Long time no post! The feds have taken away online poker which has left me little to write about. Despite not being able to play online I have been able to play a little more live than I had previously. We still have a local game that is very juicy and a few other local games in a nearby town. The casinos are 1.5-2 hours away and made a few more trips than usual to them...especially Hollywood Casino in Indiana.

Also played alot more 2/5 live than I have in the past as I have gained a new level of confidence ans look for more challenges and profits on the felt. The highlight of the year was a trip to Hollywood for the Indiana State Poker championships. I traveled up on a Sunday evening and planned to play Sunday night and a $265 Bounty tournament on Monday.

This event was in August and its now January so my recollection of most of the hands will be vague except for the last which I will remember for a long time. Upon arrival I put myself on the 1/2, 1/3 and 2/5 holdem lists. The 1/2 came open first and lost a little before my name was called for 2/5. I bought in for $1000 and in my third hand, I am dealt QQ and raise to $20. I get a few callers including the SB. Flop was below Q and the SB leads for $50 and I raise to $130. He 3 bets to $330 and I fold expecting to way behind. He never shows, so I'm down $150 pretty quick.

UTG on the first orbit and I limp with 55 and a late position raise to $25 gets 3 calls including me. Flop comes 55x and it gets checked around. Blank on turn and I check again and the guy who 3 bet me in the QQ hand bets $60. All fold to me and raise to $160. He flats and another blank on river and I bet $225 or so and he folded after much deliberation. I showed the quads and he opens up and lets me know he had a set in the earlier hand.

It's probably about midnight now and players are beginning to drop as we are the must move table. We get down to 5 and 6 handed and I take down some nice pots and lost one in mostly cooler situations. I lost a flush over flush situation where I raised PF and bet,bet, bet each street versus a short stack. Stack was about $700 at this point and raise AQ on button. SB called with AK and flop comes AQx and I bet each street with him calling me down each time for a big pot to put me back ahead for the night. (~$1100 stack)

About this time a younger player sits at the table 2-3 positions to my left with a full buyin of $1000. He quickly tried to become table captain but the deck continued to hit me in the head. We had moved the game to a $2/5 mandatory $10 straddle. I raised 76 from the button and the new guy calls with one other. Flop was 97x, they check and I bet $50-60 and the young guy calls. Turn was and over card and we both check. River was a 7...he checks I bet $100 and he raises to $250 and I quickly call. Not sure a raise would be profitable as I only get called by worse. He shows a bluff trying to rep the 7 and says, "nice hand!"

Another aggressive player sits with $1000, making us 6 handed and he on the left of the young aggressive player. The new player and I get locked up in a pot where I have the betting lead and make a small flush on the turn. The river is a blank and he check raises me with the naked A and I call. Advanced play by him in a short-handed game so I know I'm probably in a little over my head, but only because I'm not used to playing live at this level, but i love short-handed and want to keep testing myself since I'm ahead.

A few players come and go and we end up being 4-handed when the hand of the night goes down. I'm SB(~$1800)...Young guy has ~$1400in the BB and the other good player is CO with ~1500. The other player was the weakest at the table and had about ~$800 but played no part in this hand. CO raised to $30...button calls...I call with 78dd in SB and BB calls. $120 in pot and flop comes4c 5h 6c. I check, BB checks and CO continue bets $60...button folds...I raise to $170...BB raises to $400 and the CO goes nuts saying we are "bullying" and reluctantly folds after a 2 minute tirade. He slams his cards to table and walks about 10 feet away. I look down at my chips, do a count and announce all-in afterr about 30 seconds. BB asked the dealer if the casino allowed it to be run twice and the dealer said no. He reluctantly called off his stack and with no hesitation the dealer slams out the turn and river....6.....4. No clubs. My assumption with the way he called was that he was drawing but I still didnt like the board pairing twice. He mucks his cards and I take down a $3000 pot putting my stack around $3400.

Funny part was the CO folded 65 and would have made the nuts with the turn card. If the young guy in BB doesnt make raise...I get stuck some on this hand...buy I doubt I lose my whole stack.

So now we have a tilted guy because he folds...another player stuck $1000 and I have the biggest stack in the room playing NL. Taking down a few other pots I build up to $3800 when the floor comes to our saying I must move to the other table as they aren't full. They probably had $6000 on table combined, so I decided to leave as it was 2:30am and I planned on playing noon tournament the next day and i didnt have a hotel room yet. I finally get a room and go to sleep around 3.

The tournament is a $265 Bounty tournament with 130 or so runners. I make the final table with a short stack, but the funny part is I sit next to the young guy I busted the night before for a bout 3 hours toward the end off the tourney. Turns out he was and online cash player that now travels with a group of other players and he is the backer of the group.

He wound up making a min cash and two of his horses cashed with one makig the final 6. I busted 7th so I dont know what the horse's actual finish was. I had a big day at work on Tuesday and it was 1:00am on Tuesday...100 miles from home and the we have 7 players left. The TD says we can continue play or come back tomorrow at 2:00pm. All players must agree to continue though...and the damn chip leader wants to go to bed!!!

I somehow made it back the next day despite my needs at work and busted in 10 minutes as I was very short. Cashed in $1800 including bounties making it a very profitable trip!